Expansion of Bethesda Naval Delayed

By Charles S. Clark

August 30, 2011

Just as patients were arriving from the closing Walter Reed Army Medical Center, planners at the National Naval Medical Center learned to their frustration of delays in the planned building expansion due an over-burdened power grid, the Washington Examinerreported on Tuesday.

The local power station in Bethesda, Md., cannot handle any more capacity,the Defense Department said in an Aug. 16 letter to Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Carl Levin, D-Mich.

That unexpected news means the Pentagon must come up with $36.6 million to boost the grid before construction can proceed.